A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies

When Skye turns seventeen, she doesn’t know that trying to persuade her best friends against throwing her a surprise party and figuring out to diffuse her other friend Ian’s crush on her are the least of her worries. She has no idea that her seventeenth birthday marks such an important turning point in her life, but she’s about to find out, thanks to two new people in her life. Asher is charismatic but with a dark streak while his cousin Devin is the more reserved golden boy. Each is magnetic in his own way, and Skye can’t deny that there’s something so captivating—and disturbing—about both. Asher and Devin seem to know a little bit more about Skye than she’s normally comfortable sharing, and it isn’t long before she’s questioning the truth of her own mysterious past. There’s something larger at work in Skye’s life, and though she’s unaware, it won’t be long until she’ll be forced to take her own role in it.

A Beautiful Dark might appear to be just another book riding the angel wave of the latest paranormal trend, but debut author Davies keeps things fresh with snappy dialogue, a strong heroine, and unique angel mythology. The way that the story opens makes it seem that the main concerns of this book will be clothing and crushes, but the plot quickly gets much more exciting with the mysterious appearance of newcomers Asher and Devin along with a series of confusing and almost sinister events. I think what I liked best about A Beautiful Dark among other books about angels was that Skye fights so hard to maintain her identity while being thrust into a supernatural situation of epic proportions; it’s not that she doesn’t want things to change at all, but instead, she doesn’t want to just become a tool for one side of the conflict or another. Davies keeps readers entertained throughout the story with lots of action and romance, slowly building up the intensity of the story until its shocking conclusion. There’s no doubt that there will be many readers impatient for the next installment of Skye’s story to find out what happens to Skye, Asher, and Devin.

A Beautiful Dark is sure to be enjoyed by fans of Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton, Unearthly by Cynthia Hand, and Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers.

Rating: 4.25

Review copy from BEA